10-week Countdown
Since last August, AMCB has been organizing monthly seminars to train “Migrant Educators on WTO” for three consecutive months. Already, more than 65 educators have been trained and are doing their rounds in different places in Hong Kong where migrant workers congregate. Armed with their copies of “You and the WTO”, “What you need to know about the WTO” and the “WTO, migration and GATS Mode 4” – the three education modules given during the seminars – the migrant educators provide group discussions, short talks and in some occasions, public forums among migrant workers in Hong Kong.
Last October 2, the AMCB launched the “Migrants’ 10-week Countdown to Junk WTO” campaign. The countdown aims to create the atmosphere and climate of anticipation for the Peoples Action Week among the ranks of migrant workers.
Every Sunday starting October 2, small, medium and large-scale activities will be held to mark a week of the countdown. From public forums, cultural events, public information drive, distribution of flyers, walking billboards, volunteer sign-up campaign and formal and informal public gatherings – AMCB affiliates are determined to rally the sector that they represent in order to contribute significantly to the overall success of the peoples action week.
October 2 – Migrants Seminar on WTO – this was the last of the three-month series of training of the AMCB among its members in order to develop migrant educators on the negative impacts of the WTO. We have proven wrong the perception that WTO is “too hard to understand” for domestic workers who mostly came from the peasant and labor ranks. We have proven that this issue is not “only for experts” but is in fact for people who are mostly affected by the WTO policies.
October 9 – Lightning Drama Presentations – a short cultural presentation featuring the famous three monkeys and the peoples struggle and their inevitable victory against imperialism and its instruments including the WTO. The performers went around the Central area and performed whenever and wherever possible.
October 16 – Migrants Confront New WTO Director-General – around 50 migrant educators of the AMCB joined the HKPA in the protest action and roundtable discussion during the visit of WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy. The event was an eye-opener for the migrant educators in terms of engagement with the WTO. It made their resolve to raise the consciousness of fellow migrants on the issue even firmer.
October 23 – Echo-training, Documentation Team Training, “Praktikultura” – as the PAW gets near, the need for more educators to reach more migrant workers is more evident. Echo-trainings where our trained educators conducted their own training-seminar to train new educators were held.
During the action, we will need people to take pictures and video footages for the documentation team. Thus, training on basic principles in video and photography was also provided for our volunteers focusing on how documentation work can contribute in advancing the struggle of migrant workers.
Praktikultura (culture in practice) is a new concept in people’s cultural work where our cultural activists are practicing and rehearsing in public areas so they can do propaganda work and at the same time solicit public opinion on how to further improve their skills and presentations.
This coming Sunday, October 30, AMCB will again go full-blast with the Junk WTO campaign.
To gather the broadest support among the Filipino migrant workers, UNIFIL-HK, an AMCB affiliate, will organize the first ever All Presidents’ Meet. The APM will gather more than 70 presidents, chairpersons and religious leaders of different Filipino migrants’ associations, unions, religious groups, alliances and federations in a meeting to come up with a common position on the issue of WTO and to get their commitment to the PAW. Trade unionist and legislator Hon. Lee Cheuk Yan is invited as the guest speaker and is expected to seek the participation of the Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong for the people’s action week.
In Chater Garden, Filipino migrant organizations from indigenous communities in the Philippines will celebrate the Tribal Filipino Sunday (TFS). This year’s TFS will focus on the WTO policies destroying the livelihood, environment and culture of the indigenous peoples especially by the big multinational mining corporations. TFS is expected to draw thousands of migrant workers including the members of more than 50 organizations affiliated with the main organizers namely the Cordillera Alliance (CORALL) and Abra Tinguian Ilocano Society (ATIS) both of which has at least 20-member organizations and the Mindanao Federation with more than 10 affiliates. The Palawan Association is also involved in the organizing of this year’s TFS.
The second Public Information Drive Against WTO will be held side-by-side with the TFS. Information booths with photo exhibit and reading materials will be distributed the whole day. Meanwhile, the migrant educators on WTO will be around to make sure that fellow migrants’ inquiries and questions will be properly addressed.
Since last August, AMCB has been organizing monthly seminars to train “Migrant Educators on WTO” for three consecutive months. Already, more than 65 educators have been trained and are doing their rounds in different places in Hong Kong where migrant workers congregate. Armed with their copies of “You and the WTO”, “What you need to know about the WTO” and the “WTO, migration and GATS Mode 4” – the three education modules given during the seminars – the migrant educators provide group discussions, short talks and in some occasions, public forums among migrant workers in Hong Kong.Last October 2, the AMCB launched the “Migrants’ 10-week Countdown to Junk WTO” campaign. The countdown aims to create the atmosphere and climate of anticipation for the Peoples Action Week among the ranks of migrant workers.
Every Sunday starting October 2, small, medium and large-scale activities will be held to mark a week of the countdown. From public forums, cultural events, public information drive, distribution of flyers, walking billboards, volunteer sign-up campaign and formal and informal public gatherings – AMCB affiliates are determined to rally the sector that they represent in order to contribute significantly to the overall success of the peoples action week.
October 2 – Migrants Seminar on WTO – this was the last of the three-month series of training of the AMCB among its members in order to develop migrant educators on the negative impacts of the WTO. We have proven wrong the perception that WTO is “too hard to understand” for domestic workers who mostly came from the peasant and labor ranks. We have proven that this issue is not “only for experts” but is in fact for people who are mostly affected by the WTO policies.
October 9 – Lightning Drama Presentations – a short cultural presentation featuring the famous three monkeys and the peoples struggle and their inevitable victory against imperialism and its instruments including the WTO. The performers went around the Central area and performed whenever and wherever possible.
October 16 – Migrants Confront New WTO Director-General – around 50 migrant educators of the AMCB joined the HKPA in the protest action and roundtable discussion during the visit of WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy. The event was an eye-opener for the migrant educators in terms of engagement with the WTO. It made their resolve to raise the consciousness of fellow migrants on the issue even firmer.October 23 – Echo-training, Documentation Team Training, “Praktikultura” – as the PAW gets near, the need for more educators to reach more migrant workers is more evident. Echo-trainings where our trained educators conducted their own training-seminar to train new educators were held.
During the action, we will need people to take pictures and video footages for the documentation team. Thus, training on basic principles in video and photography was also provided for our volunteers focusing on how documentation work can contribute in advancing the struggle of migrant workers.
Praktikultura (culture in practice) is a new concept in people’s cultural work where our cultural activists are practicing and rehearsing in public areas so they can do propaganda work and at the same time solicit public opinion on how to further improve their skills and presentations.
This coming Sunday, October 30, AMCB will again go full-blast with the Junk WTO campaign.
To gather the broadest support among the Filipino migrant workers, UNIFIL-HK, an AMCB affiliate, will organize the first ever All Presidents’ Meet. The APM will gather more than 70 presidents, chairpersons and religious leaders of different Filipino migrants’ associations, unions, religious groups, alliances and federations in a meeting to come up with a common position on the issue of WTO and to get their commitment to the PAW. Trade unionist and legislator Hon. Lee Cheuk Yan is invited as the guest speaker and is expected to seek the participation of the Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong for the people’s action week.
In Chater Garden, Filipino migrant organizations from indigenous communities in the Philippines will celebrate the Tribal Filipino Sunday (TFS). This year’s TFS will focus on the WTO policies destroying the livelihood, environment and culture of the indigenous peoples especially by the big multinational mining corporations. TFS is expected to draw thousands of migrant workers including the members of more than 50 organizations affiliated with the main organizers namely the Cordillera Alliance (CORALL) and Abra Tinguian Ilocano Society (ATIS) both of which has at least 20-member organizations and the Mindanao Federation with more than 10 affiliates. The Palawan Association is also involved in the organizing of this year’s TFS.The second Public Information Drive Against WTO will be held side-by-side with the TFS. Information booths with photo exhibit and reading materials will be distributed the whole day. Meanwhile, the migrant educators on WTO will be around to make sure that fellow migrants’ inquiries and questions will be properly addressed.
About Us
We say "Junk WTO!" and we unite with everyone who opposes the WTO for various reasons. We encourage you to participate in the People's Action Week spearheaded by the HK Peoples' Alliance on WTO (HKPA) of which we are a part. We hope that this blog continues even after MC6 in Hong Kong.
Photo Galleries
Contact Us
